India's riot-hit Muslims make emotional return to homes to vote

In this photograph taken on April 9, 2014, Indian residents displaced by riots, look on as others speak outside their temporary shelters in the village of Jaula in Muzaffarnagar District, before returning to their native villages to vote in national elections in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, April 10, 2014. Seven months after fleeing deadly religious riots, mother-of-five Shaina Khatoon and hundreds of other impoverished Muslims made an emotional return to their home villages Thursday to vote in India's election. -- PHOTO: AFP

MUZAFFARNAGAR, India (AFP) - Seven months after fleeing deadly religious riots, mother-of-five Shaina Khatoon and hundreds of other impoverished Muslims made an emotional return to their home villages Thursday to vote in India's election.

After driving for an hour in the back of a truck from a refugee camp, Ms Khatoon, 28, arrived at her village under police escort and went straight to the house she was forced to flee when violence erupted.

"This is where I used to live with my family," Khatoon said as she stepped inside her home, now bare except for a few bricks and clothes.

"How can I return? I have little children, what if we are attacked again?"